statelessness.14 CERD also raised concerns about the lack of quantitative and qualitative data on refugees, beneficiaries of international protection, asylum seekers and stateless persons. Regarding refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, CERD also recommended that Ireland reduce the waiting period before a person is eligible to work and remove barriers to obtaining employment, including by providing transport, and employment and training services.15 14. Ireland did not make any pledges at UNHCR’s High-Level Segment on Statelessness in October 2019.16 Snapshot of Statelessness in Ireland 15. There is very limited data available on the stateless population in Ireland and there are no reliable estimates for the size of the population affected by statelessness. However, there are indicators that statelessness occurs predominantly in a migratory context and impacts primarily on people with a migrant or refugee background. It is the experience of the Immigrant Council of Ireland that those affected by statelessness include migrants and refugees from former USSR States, Rohingya Muslims and members of minority groups such as Roma and Bidoon, however, without formal data it is not possible to provide a complete profile of the stateless population in Ireland. 16. The last census, carried out in 2016, included an option to record ‘no nationality’ on the census form and the next census (postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19) will ask respondents about citizenship, providing the option to respond ‘no citizenship’. In 2016, 1,487 respondents identified that they had 'no nationality'.17 From 2002 to 2014, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (which assesses eligibility for refugee status) found that 82 applicants were stateless but not refugees. This indicates the existence of a group of people who may be stateless and for whom there is no clear procedure to resolve their legal status in the country. 18 According to UNHCR, in 2019 there were 99 stateless persons in the country. 19 In 2018, of the total of 4,797 persons who were refused permission to enter Ireland (leave to land),20 55 were recorded as ‘stateless’, but some may have subsequently applied for international protection (the disaggregated data is not fully available by nationality/statelessness).21 Due to the lack of reliable data, it is not possible to quantify how many people are impacted by statelessness in Ireland nor accurately identify the extent of the issue and the underlying causes.22 14 Concluding observations on the combined fifth to ninth reports of Ireland, CERD/C/IRL/CO/5-9, 23rd January 2020, Recommendation 36. 15 Concluding observations on the combined fifth to ninth reports of Ireland, CERD/C/IRL/CO/5-9, 23rd January 2020, Recommendation 36. 16 See https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/results-of-the-high-level-segment-on-statelessness/. 17 Data obtained from search under Migration at https://data.cso.ie/ conducted 15.02.2021 Census 2016, Profile 7 - Migration and Diversity, E7002 - Population Usually Resident and Present in the State 2011 to 2016, Nationality, No nationality. 18 Irish Times ' Living in a state of statelessness ' 5 November 2014:https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/living-in-a-stateof-statelessness-1.1987766 <accessed on 3 February 2021>. 19 UNHCR, Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2019, June 2020: https://www.unhcr.org/statistics/unhcrstats/5ee200e37/unhcr-global-trends-2019.html. 20 See Department of Justice and Equality, Immigration in Ireland: Annual Review 2018: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Immigration-in-Ireland-Annual-Review-2018.pdf/Files/Immigration-in-Ireland-Annual-Review2018.pdf. 21 Eurostat, Third country nationals refused entry at the external borders - annual data (rounded) online data code: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/MIGR_EIRFS__custom_568286/default/table?lang=en. 22 A 2014 UNHCR scoping paper on statelessness in Ireland concluded that there was an absence of reliable data to estimate the size of the affected population. UNHCR Scoping Paper: Statelessness in Ireland, 2014: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5448b6344.pdf. 4